


Offstage Lines

by iwantthemtostay



Series: Wild Horses [3]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe, F/M, Teenage Pregnancy, prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-06-17 07:22:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15456222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwantthemtostay/pseuds/iwantthemtostay
Summary: "couldn't drag me away"Snippets and continuations from the Wild Horses universe





	1. Katie meets VM's future baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: I wish you would write a fic where Katie meets VM's future baby *eyes emoji that is unsupported by AO3* - idontneedtobeforgiven

Katie fidgets so much on the familiar drive to Tessa and Scott’s house that her mum actually asks her to stop (which is rich, she knows she got that habit from her). She asks her what’s wrong and she can’t tell her, it’s too embarrassing. Pathetic really.

She’s eighteen, she’s just started uni, and here she is - jealous of a newborn. Well, it’s not quite jealousy, more… worry? She doesn’t know why it’s taken until now for her to feel this way, she’s known it was happening for months. And Tessa and Scott have treated her the same way they always do that whole time so she doesn’t know why she’s so scared that now it’s all going to change, that maybe now they have their own baby that they won’t care about her the same way. 

Scott looks so tired when he opens the door, but he smiles so wide when he sees her that she starts to feel a bit more normal, and more normal still when he hugs her the same way he always does. Tessa looks tired too, but they’re both so happy that’s it’s practically glowing out of them. Her mum asks did they get much sleep and Tessa tells her they’d stayed up, dressed and ready for when the baby woke, but he’d slept the whole night through. 

He starts stirring then and Scott jumps off the couch to pick him up from his Moses basket. “We have some important people for you to meet,” he says softly. The baby is so tiny lying there against his chest, his hands more or less covering him. 

Tessa asks them if it’s okay if she feeds him, and she seems especially concerned about her mum. It’s so very Tessa to be sensitive about that. While she nurses she asks Katie questions about class, and the societies she’s joined, and it’s becoming more and more clear just how silly she was being in the car. 

When Tessa asks if she wants to hold him she says yes without really thinking about it, and doesn’t get nervous until Scott is just about to put him in her arms. He’s so small and fragile and he’s making this little snuffly sound that’s crawling into her heart and she can hear that everyone else in the room is sobbing but she can’t look at them, she’s just looking at the baby. Her brother. And she knows that everything is going to be okay.


	2. Scott and Tessa take Katie skating

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: I wish you would write a fic where... Scott and Tessa take Katie skating

It’s Scott’s idea, because of course it is. One of those things he doesn’t quite think through but comes from this place of so much love that even if Tessa is slightly mad he didn’t stop to consider that maybe the idea of skating for the first time with Olympic champions might be just a tad intimidating, it also makes her want to hold him tight.

It’s just a Wednesday night in September, nothing out of the ordinary, just over a year since they first met. Laura drops her off and she just shakes her head when Tessa asks if she wants to join them, or stay and watch. Tessa hopes to God the idea of this isn’t painful for her. 

There’s no one else around as Scott busies about getting Katie fitted into skates. It’s probably a good thing Sabine isn’t here. Scott thinks it will take her ten seconds to figure everything out when she sees them with Katie, Tessa thinks five. 

Katie seems surprisingly calm about it all, no obvious nerves. Tessa takes her hands and backs out onto the ice, Scott following right behind them in case Katie falls. She’s like a little fawn or something, unsteady on her skates, and Tessa squeezes her hands to reassure her she’s not letting go. When they’ve edged away from the boards Scott takes one of Katie’s hands and they start slowly moving, one foot in front of the other. Tessa’s heart catches a little thinking of how she used to dream about this, what it would be like to skate with their little girl, except she’s not little, and she’s not only theirs, but it feels like something close to deliverance all the same. It’s slow and steady as they make their way around the rink, hand in hand in hand.


	3. Cousin Jean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wish you would write a fic...ok two things! Pick whichever you like more (or both haha)....1) Scott/Tessa are unintentionally the first to know about Jenny and Katie when they walk in on them kissing. I imagine they’re a good sounding board for her as she talks through coming out to her mom. 2) Katie meets some of Scott and Tessa’s extended family and unintentionally spills the beans that they are back together.
> 
> \- I’m taking a different route with 1) in the next chapter (though that is a fun idea!) so I will go for 2)!
> 
> -

When Tessa gets a call from Laura one afternoon in early December she thinks it’s going to be to arrange their next get together, and in a way it is, except this time it’s just going to be Tessa and Katie. Laura is coming down with the flu and she can’t go holiday shopping with Katie like she planned.

“And I know she’s almost 16… but the city is so busy this time of year and she still isn’t quite used to it yet.”

Tessa tells her that it’s no problem. The only part that bothers her a little is that Scott won’t be there too, and she can’t even talk to him about it because he’s asleep in bed in Japan where he’s with Sabine and Luc for the Junior Grand Prix Final, so all she can do is text him.

Tessa has to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing when Katie hugs her because she’s so bundled up that she can barely move her arms. She tells her that they never visited Canada in the winter and she didn’t expect it to be quite this cold. Tessa takes her for hot chocolate and it feels perfectly natural just the two of them, but she still wishes Scott could be there too.

Katie is helping her look for a book for Scott when they hear a loud “Tessa! Is that you?!”

She has to put on her best fake smile when she sees her dad’s cousin Jean who rivals Vernon Moir in the ‘relative you least want to meet’ stakes. Tessa hadn’t spoken to her for three years after she described Ilderton as hicksville once (no one else had noticed her protest seeing as they didn’t see her all that often and Tessa was a shy teenager anyway, but it was the principle of the thing).

“Are you skating less, dear? You look like you’ve put on weight.” An entry level Jean barb. She turns to Katie, “And this must be a McCormick!”

Shit. “Yes, this is Katie.” Tessa hadn’t considered the possibility that they might meet someone who had known her when she was young and to whom the similarities would be obvious. “Her mom and mine are first cousins. Katie, this is my dad’s cousin Jean.”

Katie smiles and shakes her hand. Once Jean hears her accent she starts regaling them with tales of her trips to the U.K. and everything is fine until she asks what they’re doing in the bookstore.

“I was looking for a present for my grandma, and Tessa is looking for a present for Scott.”

“Oh yes, _Scott_. Do you still see each other often?”

Before Tessa has a chance to say anything Katie blurts out, “They’re together now!” like it’s the best news in the world (which it is to Tessa).

Jean smirks, probably delighted that she finally has some gossip about Tessa. “I have to say I’m surprised. Did he ever go to college in the end? We Virtues only date the highly educated you know.”

It’s taking a considerable amount of effort not to shout “I know your husband caught you with the tennis instructor at your country club!!!” right here in the middle of this nice independent bookstore, but Tessa has had a lot of practice at holding things in over the years. In the end though she can’t resist saying, “Scott’s coaching now, he’s wonderful at it. We’re very happy. He’s so loyal, I think fidelity is such an important part of a relationship, don’t you?”

And with that Jean scurries off.

“What a bitch,” Katie pronounces, and Tessa bursts into laughter.

Later, when they’re leaving the shop, Katie says, “I probably shouldn’t have told her you were together in the first place, I’m sorry.”

She’s struggling to fit two hats over her hair and Tessa helps tug them down. She leaves her hands on her cheeks. “You have nothing to be sorry for. It’s good news, the best news, and it should be shared. It’s not your fault Jean’s too much of a snob to appreciate it.”

Katie smiles, and they head out into the cold together arm in arm.


	4. Kate and Alma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: I don't know if you plan on writing this is the last chapter but could you write how Katie is introduced to Kate and Alma or how Scott’s brothers meet her?

Scott can tell Tessa’s nervous by the fact that she decides they should begin unpacking the summer clothes he’s started to bring with him each time he comes to visit. 

“It’s March, Tess. I’m not going to need them for a while.”

“Global warming is real, Scott!” She then proceeds to launch into a bunch of evidence proving this, some of which he’s pretty sure he told her about.

Katie had mentioned that she’d like to meet their moms sometime soon after Christmas, but between Nationals and the Olympics and the tours in China, Korea, and Japan, and then Junior Worlds they just hadn’t had a chance to arrange it. 

Tessa’s still going when they hear the doorbell ring. They’d decided Katie and Laura should get here first so that they could settle in, they’ve been here before so it’s a familiar space for them. 

He’s only seen Katie once since they got back from touring and it’s so great to see her again. The first time she’d hugged him he’d been so surprised, had no idea what to do at first, but now it’s second nature. She and Laura sit down on the couch and ask questions about how the Gadbois teams felt about their results at Junior Worlds, and how the senior teams are shaping up. 

It’s about fifteen minutes later that the doorbell rings again. They both seem so nervous, Kate especially. He hugs them both and tells them they have nothing to be worried about, to which Kate whisper-replies, “I raised two teenage girls!”

Katie looks a little nervous too, playing with the sleeve of her cardigan before she shakes their hands. She tells them they should sit down beside her and they do, one on either side. The conversation is stilted at first, they ask her how she likes Toronto, and what she’s doing at school. It’s Kate who manages to break the ice, she starts telling stories of when he and Tessa first started skating together and Katie seems so involved, like she wants to hear every little detail. His mom loosens up after a while too, and she tells them all about how she listened in on his ten year old self’s telephone break-up with Tessa.

Tessa slips into the kitchen after a while, saying something about how she’s going to make tea, and he follows after her. He holds her close as the water boils, kissing her temple when tears start to fall. 

Laura comes in a few minutes later when he’s cutting slices of cake and Tessa is decorating them onto a tray. She looks like she’s about to cry too and Tessa wraps her into her arms. She calms down after a minute or so, and says, “I feel so happy that we got to meet the women Katie is named after, and to see how great they are. She’s lucky to be named after two women like that.”

And that’s when Scott starts tearing up too.


	5. It's just a question

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just got emotional at the thought of future Katie introducing VM to her baby (with Jenny, lbr) and really, I am just so far gone for this universe you’ve created – idontneedtobeforgiven
> 
> (not quite, but almost)

_**2037** _

“I can’t believe you made me carry your child,” is the first thing she says when Jenny picks up.

“I’m absolutely sure it was your idea, but I’m terribly sorry.”

She probably has her on record saying that and everything. “They haven’t stopped moving all day. And not the cute moving, it’s like they’re in a mosh pit, and the mosh pit is my uterus.”

“That’s… quite the image.”

“Don’t laugh!”

“I’m not laughing, I promise.” Jenny pauses, “It’s just a question, Katie. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah, I know.” She waves back at Laura who’s waiting for her at the open door. “I’ll see you at home. I love you.”

Laura hugs her and Katie tugs at her ponytail, the same colour as her own hair. “Have you got taller again?!”

Laura giggles, “You saw me last week.”

“And you’re taller! What are they feeding you?”

“Just normal stuff. How’s the baby?”

“Good, getting bigger every day just like you. Where are your mom and dad?”

“Grace told them she wanted to be a pairs skater and Dad started freaking out and then Grace started crying so now Mom’s trying to calm her down.” She shakes her hands, “Madness in the Moir house!”

“Like most days,” Tessa says, coming out of the living room. Laura tucks into her side and Tessa looks down at her and asks, “Will you go upstairs with your sister and try to cheer her up a little?”

Laura nods and heads down the hall.

Tessa puts her arm around her and Katie rests her head on her shoulder. “Tired?”

“Exhausted.”

“That’s being eight months pregnant.” Tessa rubs her back as they walk into the living room.

“How did you do this four times?”

“Well, I was barely eight months pregnant with you before you decided to make your appearance.”

She’s distracted from replying by the sight of Scott pacing back and forth.

“Hi Katie! My daughter wants to be a pairs skater! My youngest child wants someone to throw her in the air and lift her up above his head and do all sorts of other life-threatening things. Have you ever really thought about the fact that it’s called a death spiral, Tess? A death spiral!”

Katie sits down and watches as Tessa takes Scott’s hand in hers and raises it to her lips. “She’s eight, Scott. I wanted to be a ballerina when I was eight, you wanted to be a hockey player. And you’ve always liked pairs anyway.”

“Not for my baby!”

Tessa puts her arms around him and whispers something in his ear. He nods into her shoulder and then they walk over and sit down beside her.

“I’m sorry, you said you had something you wanted to talk to us about? A question about the baby?” Scott looks so apologetic and Tessa so ready to listen, and she loves them so much.

“Uh, yeah. I’ve been talking with Jenny, and with my mum and… I wanted to ask you would you want to be the baby’s official grandparents, that that would be who you are to them from the start.” They look like they’re frozen, and maybe this was a stupid idea, they’re 48 and 50, they’re much too young to be grandparents. “They wouldn’t have to call you grandparent names or anything, if you didn’t want that. I… I just feel like that’s who you are to them.”

They break into tears in perfect synchronisation. Tessa wraps her into her arms, and then Scott wraps his arms around the both of them and it’s like being in a cocoon.

“I’d love that,” Tessa says, and her voice is full of wonder.

“We’d be honoured.”

“Good,” she sniffles. “That’s so, so good.”


	6. AU AU Where the media finds out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: AU AU Where the media finds out about Katie?
> 
> (I see the world at large finding out being a possibility later on with Katie maybe getting involved in adoption organisations and wanting to share that with the world. It’s not something that T&S would decide to share without it coming from her first, and it would need to be when their kids are old enough to understand.)

Tessa is standing at the baggage carousel while Scott grabs their suitcases when the call comes.

“Hey Jordan, you really couldn’t wait for all the honeymoon details, eh?”

“Where are you, Tess?” She sounds so worried.

“Just off the plane, waiting for our luggage. Is everything okay?” Please, not… “Is it Mom?”

“No, no, it’s not that. Have you seen the _Toronto Sun_?”

“No, what happened?”

“There’s a story, uh, with some photos?”

“About us? From the wedding? Or the honeymoon?” She had been so sure those beaches were deserted. Shit, she doesn’t need photos of her and Scott half-naked with their hands all over each other in the _Toronto Sun_.

“Is Scott with you?” Just as Jordan asks the question he arrives with the trolley, leaning over to kiss her.

“He just got here, please tell me what it is, you’re freaking me out.” She wraps her arm around his side.

“It’s… It’s about Katie, Tessa.”

She falls into Scott then and she thinks she’s already crying by the time Jordan sends the link to the article and she sees VIRTUE AND MOIR - THEIR SECRET LOVE CHILD in huge font above a photo of them with Katie at the wedding. She skims the article enough to make out that someone who worked at the venue posted the picture saying something about how Tessa’s relative could be their kid, which had started people thinking that maybe she was, and then someone at the Sun had taken it upon themselves to ring up adoption agencies around Ontario.

Tessa can hear Jordan murmuring so she puts the phone to her ear again. “You two and Katie and Laura can sue the fuck out of New Beginnings, this should never have happened.”

“I don’t care about suing anyone, I just…” She can’t get anything else out.

Scott takes the phone and talks to her sister, all the while holding her close while she cries into his chest. After hanging up he says, “Jordan thinks we should ring the neighbours to see if there are press at the house, and if so we should go straight to hers. I’d like to ring Katie first, if that’s okay with you?”

She nods.

“We’ll head out to the car and do it there.” He drops his head to the curve of her neck. “I can’t make this go away, but I’m going to take care of you.”

They put on their sunglasses and speed through the airport, she feels like people are staring but she tries to tell herself that they could just be wondering who the couple wearing sunglasses indoors are. The attendant at the long-term parking service shoves a copy of the paper away and keeps stuttering when Scott talks to him, so maybe that was all just wishful thinking.

They’re silent for a while when they get in the car. Scott puts his hands over his face, “All we wanted was to keep her safe, to protect her from this. We’ve tried so hard.”

“And we’ll keep trying hard. I don’t… I don’t know how we could have prevented this.”

The only sure way seems to be not having her in their lives, and she can’t imagine the last two years without her.

Scott takes her hand in his and she asks him if he’s ready to call her. There are so many missed calls and messages, more coming in by the second almost, but she ignores them and phones the one person they need to speak to.

Katie doesn’t pick up and Tessa has a sinking feeling, even though she understands that she might need space.

She squeezes Scott’s hand and then the phone rings.

“Hi Tessa. Was your flight back okay?” Could it be possible she doesn’t know?

“Um, yeah. Have you seen the _Toronto Sun_ today?”

“Oh, you know. That’s good, I wasn’t sure how to tell you.” She pauses, “I’m so sorry it happened, maybe I should have stayed away more at the wedding?”

They both jump in telling her that she has nothing to be sorry for. Scott continues, “We just feel so bad about you getting all this attention. We never wanted to expose you to that.”

“Oh, well, no one really knows it’s me?” She sounds very calm about it all.

“But they had the photo, and documents from the agency?”

“Yeah, the photo isn’t the best quality, but if you knew me I think you could figure it out. I haven’t heard from anyone at school or anything though, but maybe if anyone has seen it they wouldn’t want to just ask? It probably will come out somehow, but not yet anyway. And the documents are just the consent to adoption forms so the only information is the name on the original birth cert, which must have been Katherine Alma Virtue Moir? And then your signatures. It’s only the application number that the agency had for my parents so they don’t have my surname, and the article even says that there’s no way of knowing whether I’m still called Katherine. It says something weird like ‘who is this girl, who was once Katherine Alma Virtue Moir?’. Honestly, I wouldn’t bother reading it, it’s super trashy, the articles Jenny writes for the school paper are like a thousand times better.”

“I’m so glad you’re okay. I- I was so worried.”

“Tess, please don’t cry. I’m fine! It was a weird thing to wake up to, and… I suppose if people do find out exactly who I am I might feel a bit differently, but even if that happens I’m going to London to stay with my dad in three days so by the time I come back it will have blown over.” She gets quiet. “I just feel so bad for you two. I don’t know if you ever wanted everyone to know about it.”

Tessa looks at Scott before saying, “We had talked about it a little, and we thought that was something that would be up to you and your mum if you ever wanted to share it. It’s not just our lives, it’s yours and your family’s. How… how are they taking it?”

“Mum has been talking to Vera, they’re trying to find out who gave the reporter the information. The only other two people there who knew have retired, so it’s probably someone with access to the full system who went looking for it after they were contacted. My dad wants to sue, of course, and Grandma agrees with him so they ended up saying the exact same things but acting like they were arguing. I don’t think Grandma is capable of admitting she thinks he’s in the right about anything. Some of Grandma’s friends rang her about it but I think they had all figured it out from when you came to her 80th birthday party anyway.” There had been a lot of beady eyes looking from them to Katie and back again at that party. “How are _you_ taking it?”

Scott reaches out and runs his fingers through her ponytail. “I haven’t really processed it. We were just thinking about you initially.”

“Yeah, I hadn’t really thought about… the rest of it.” People are going to have so many opinions about their behaviour and their choices. Personal behaviour and choices that shouldn’t be up for debate.

“I was on twitter earlier and from what I could see people were just really impressed about all you’d achieved afterwards and talking about how sweet it was that you got married and I was there. You’re going to be the poster children for adoption now. You’re like the dream advertisement – take the process very seriously, go and win five Olympic medals, reconnect with your child and their family, then get married.”

Tessa had been thinking more about people saying she shouldn’t have got pregnant at 16, or wondering what was the motivation for them choosing adoption.

A beeping sound comes over the line. “Is someone trying to reach you, Katie?”

“Oh, it’s just Jenny. I can ring her back.”

“No, talk to her. We can phone you back later, we should probably leave this carpark at some point.”

“You’ve been talking to us for, what, ten minutes now? You shouldn’t have to go that long without speaking to your girlfriend.” Scott must be feeling better about things if he’s joking again.

“Please, I was messaging her on Facebook to tell her I got through to you when we started talking. Some of us can manage two technological devices at once. Thank God technological incompetence doesn’t seem to be a dominant trait.”

“Hey now, I’ve become a great photographer. You’re going to love my honeymoon portfolio.”

Tessa mimes hitting him and he mouths “Not those ones!”

“Um, landscape shots only please,” Katie says. “Will you be able to meet up before I go to England?”

“We want to, we just don’t want to lead anyone to you. We might head to Jordan’s depending on if there are cameras waiting at home.”

“Ooh, I could sneak in like a spy! Okay, Jen is calling again so I will talk to you later. Love you, bye!”

“She’s okay.” All of a sudden Tessa is doing a half-laugh, half-cry. “She’s okay.”

Scott holds her tight to him, “She’s okay. And we’re going to be okay, too.”

(and they are).


	7. T&S meeting Jenny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Are you taking prompts? "T&S meeting Jenny" I think it would be funny cause they are Katie's bio parents + she is a fan

Katie can tell Jenny is nervous about meeting Tessa and Scott from the moment she meets her at the door. Jenny bobs her head around awkwardly and proceeds to kiss her on the nose of all places, before just walking into the house like nothing weird had happened.

When they go into the living room Jenny doesn’t sit down, just paces around.

“I might be a little nervous,” she says, in a way that makes it seem like this mightn’t be totally obvious to anyone with eyes.

“I’m a little offended,” Katie’s mum jokes after coming through the door. “You weren’t like this when you met me for the first time after you two started dating.”

Jenny’s face falls, “I’m so sorry! It wasn’t that…”

“Oh sweetheart,” her mum hugs her and sends a glance that’s all ‘I didn’t mean for this to happen!’ to Katie over her shoulder. “Of course you shouldn’t have been nervous for that, we knew each other so well already! And Tessa and Scott are going to think you’re wonderful, just like I do. Now, do you want something to drink? I have some food for later, I got that hummus your mom was raving about.”

“Thank you, I’m fine.”

“If you need anything you know to just go and get it. Why don’t you sit down beside Katie?” Her mum slightly pushes Jenny in her direction and then leaves, closing the door behind her.

Jenny finally joins her on the couch and Katie takes her hand. “They’re going to love you. Is it the whole Tessa and Scott-ness of it all?”

She sighs. “This is embarrassing. You see… I told you about how I fell in love with them in Sochi because their short dance reminded me of those Fred and Ginger films I used to watch with my grandma? Well, I didn’t get to see them live that summer because we were in Hong Kong for her funeral, and then the next summer I think we were away for some tournament of Peter’s. So by the time I finally saw them live in 2016 I had been waiting for what seemed like forever, and they’d just announced their comeback so I was super excited. I really think my mom should have told me about the meet and greet tickets, but she thought it would make a nice surprise, which, I guess it was right up until I finally saw them and…” she lowers her head, “burst into tears.”

“Oh, Jenny!” Katie has seen enough photos to know exactly what ten year old Jenny looked like, and she can picture it so clearly in her head. It must have been adorable.

“And to make matters worse, she got me meet and greet tickets again in 2018 and after I’d had a perfectly normal, nice conversation with them she leaned over and started telling them all about how I’d cried when I saw them two years earlier! It was mortifying! Like, I don’t expect them to remember me, but if they do they’re going to think I’m obsessed with them!”

“You’d been waiting to get to see them skate for so long, and you were only ten. They’ll understand.”

“But… I kind of was obsessed with them. I mean, you’ve seen the posters on my walls!” It was a good thing Jenny had taken the signed one of them down because Katie really didn’t need her bio parents in their _Moulin Rouge_ costumes looking down at her while she made out with her girlfriend. “And I had a blog on tumblr that was basically devoted to them before, you know, I found out about them being your bio parents and then that was weird.”

Katie still can’t quite wrap her head around the fact that Tessa and Scott are famous, and, like, out of this world talented. To her they’re just Tessa and Scott, remarkable more for their kindness and the quality of their hugs rather than for anything else.

“How were you know you’d end up dating their bio daughter?”

Jenny drops her hand. “Oh God, what if they think I’m only dating you because you’re connected to them?” She covers her face, “What if _you_ think that?!”

Katie tries not to laugh because she doesn’t think it will help the situation. “That has never crossed my mind up until this second, and they’re not going to think that either. They really are going to love you, I promise.” She doesn’t know how anyone could not love Jenny.

“I don’t want to mess it up. They’re so important to you, and I’ve never done this before. I completely cheated with your mom by having her like me already from being your best friend.”

A tactic which hadn’t worked for Katie. Jenny’s dad had ominously reminded her that he was a surgeon the first time she’d gone to her house after they got together.

“I was really nervous before I met them for the first time too, and that turned out pretty great.” Jenny raises her eyebrows at her. “I know it’s different, but… they’re good at putting people at ease, it’s not going to be awkward.”

“Okay. Positive attitude. It’s going to be fine.”

“It is. You know, I could help you relax.”

“Katie!” Jenny’s cheeks get rosier and she looks from her face to the door and back again.

“Not like _that_.” Katie would very much like to do something like that, but now is not the time. “You didn’t even kiss me when you got here.”

“Yes, I did!”

“On the nose, that barely counts.” She’s not a puppy.

“I didn’t kiss you on the nose, don’t be silly.”

Katie is going to fight this but then Jenny’s lips are on hers and they make a very persuasive argument of their own. Jenny is wearing this pretty, light blue dress, but the annoying thing is that it has full sleeves and is down to her knees, so Katie has to make do with moving her hands up and down the soft material at Jenny’s back in lieu of any skin-on-skin contact. Jenny meanwhile is slowly inching her fingers under Katie’s shirt and up over her stomach. Katie leans into her and they kind of fall over so that they’re practically lying on the couch, their bare legs tangled around each other.

They haven’t been this close in two days and the whole effect is so overwhelming that Katie doesn’t hear the front door, or Tessa and Scott talking to her mum when they get inside, or anything at all really until her mum says, “I can’t believe I broke my own open door policy.”

Katie sits up so fast she thinks she might have whiplash. Jenny’s face is now the same shade as the accent cushions on the couch.

Scott has his hands on his hips and is staring up the ceiling as if the light fittings are going to come down and take him away from this. Katie wishes they’d do the same for her. Tessa is looking at him and trying not to laugh.

She nudges him, “This must have been what it was like to be related to us.”

Scott goes white and her mum, who seems weirdly blasé about all of this, laughs. “I’m going to get the food ready. You sit and chat.”

Katie half-falls off the couch to go and greet them properly while Jenny gets up a lot more daintily.

Tessa hugs her and pulls her shirt down a little, tapping her on the side. “I’m so…” she begins, before Tessa says, “Oh don’t worry, that was very tame.” Katie thinks that maybe the lying down actually hid the fact that Jenny’s hands were almost at her bra (this whole incident was terrible timing on many fronts, clearly).

Tessa goes over to Jenny then and tells her how happy she is to finally meet her before hugging her too. Katie wishes she had her phone out so she could capture Jenny’s face.

Scott taps her shoulder and she hugs him tight, putting her face into his chest so that she doesn’t have to actually look at him. “Are you okay?” she asks, her voice muffled.

“I’m fine, I’m just worried we’ve scarred you by interrupting your moment. I feel like I just relived a bunch of memories that ended in ways I’d prefer to forget about.” If people were walking in on them all the time Katie wonders how on earth they managed to get pregnant with her.

Scott shakes Jenny’s hand then and they all sit down, Tessa in between her and Jenny with Scott on her other side.

It’s a little awkward at first, but then Tessa asks Jenny about her trip to Sweden and things get a little easier. After Jenny tells them about her brother’s hockey camp she and Scott get into a deep discussion about the Maple Leafs. Katie still doesn’t quite get the whole hockey thing, but she’s afraid if she ever says this out loud her citizenship will be revoked.

“Are you feeling a bit better now?” Tessa whispers.

“Yeah, it was just embarrassing, you know?”

“Believe me, I do.” She squeezes her hand. “At least that wasn’t the way both your families found out about you.”

“Oh my God, did they all walk in on you?” No wonder Scott was traumatised.

“No, and, if we’re being accurate, Jordan already knew. It was just Scott’s parents, his brothers, and whoever Danny was dating at the time, but that was more than enough people, and they rang my parents after and there was this big joint family meeting.”

“What was that girl’s name?” Scott and Jenny are listening now too.

“Krista? Kirsty? Krystal?”

“I honestly think he dated girls with all those names. He really did get around back then, no wonder Hannah kept refusing to go out with him.”

“Well, whatever her name was, she saw more of me than she needed to.” Tessa goes red, “Just my back!”

“They didn’t even know it was Tess at first.”

“Alma asked, ‘Miss, can you please put your top on?’ and while I was pulling on my blouse I said…”

“It’s Tessa Virtue,” Scott finishes in a fine imitation.

“Yeah, like she wouldn’t have known it was me from just Tessa, or even the sound of my voice.”

“And that was when all hell broke loose.”

“Alma rushed off to ring my mom, Charlie ran away, I think Joe sat down in shock, Danny came over towards us and I was convinced he was about to hit Scott…”

“He did push me up against a wall later and told me to treat you right or else.”

“And you did,” Tessa smiles, her eyes soft.

Scott’s gazing at her in that way he does and Jenny looks entranced by it all. Katie’s used to it now.

Her mum comes in then to tell them to join her in the kitchen. Tessa and Scott head out first and Katie stops Jenny before she leaves the room.

“How are you doing?”

“Good. The beginning wasn’t ideal but…”

“I’m so sorry. That was a bad idea.”

Jenny shrugs, laughing. “It sounds like it could have been worse.” She takes her hand. “You were right about them making things easy.”

“They’re pretty great.”

“Like you.” Jenny kisses her cheek and then tugs her hand, and they make their way to the kitchen together.


	8. Marie and Patch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: hi, first of all i absolutely adored wild horses and i want to shake your hand and thank you profusely for it! second, if you're accepting more prompts, i would really love to read your take on katie meeting marie and patch at some point (of course, no pressure, i just would love to see that). again you're wonderful and thank you for blessing us with this verse!!!

**_December 2022_ **

“Tessa!”

After spending the last fifteen minutes consoling three juvenile girls who’d fallen in the show’s closing number Tessa thinks she’d be happy to hear any variation of her name that doesn’t involve sobbing, but the way Katie says it is still something special and surprising each time. Her hugs feel that way too.

“You and Scott were amazing!” Her voice is slightly muffled by Tessa’s sweater-dress.

“Oh, thank you so much. I’m glad you liked it.” She’d felt strangely nervous about tonight’s performance, even if it was just a bunch of familiar elements to ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’, and it was probably because she knew Katie would be there.

Katie releases her. “I loved it! I never knew just how fast you were going from watching on a screen, it was like you were flying!”

She’s so enthusiastic that her eyes are sparkling and Tessa forgets all about how she’d felt disappointed in how they’d skated, even though she knew they’d done their best with the little practice time they had available to them right now. There certainly have been times when it felt like they were flying, but tonight hadn’t quite been one of them. “We had a lot of fun.”

“I saw Scott outside in the lobby, he said to come back here and wait for you,” Katie explains. Tessa had wondered how she’d found her way to the changing rooms. “He’s introducing Mum to Brian Orser. Grandma said to say she was sorry she couldn’t make it.”

Rosemary had already apologised for her absence to Tessa in a text that stated that she couldn’t miss her bridge club’s holiday party because she was afraid her friend Margot might do something reckless with a recently widowed club member. Tessa wouldn’t have blamed her for thinking a party might be a more exciting prospect than the Curling Club’s holiday show, which was more of a practice event for the younger skaters for Nationals than anything else.

They’re talking about Katie’s upcoming finals when Tessa hears her name being called again. She turns around to see Marie-France and Patrice making their way to her, both beaming. They had flown into Toronto along with Scott and his teams instead of straight back to Montréal so that they could see how his programme was progressing.

Marie embraces her. “Lovely as always, ma chère. Sabine sent us this way to find you, she said you were drying up tears.”

It’s Patch who notices Katie. He blinks a few times before putting out his hand and introducing himself, “I am Patrice Lauzon. I used…”

“I’ve heard all about you, about both of you,” Katie smiles as she shakes his hand.

Tessa had heard the tiniest crack in Patch’s voice, and if this is affecting someone who’s usually so stoic she’s not sure how Marie is going to handle it. When she looks at her she’s biting her lip ever so slightly, a sure sign she’s trying to hold tears in.

Marie looks up at her as if for permission, and when Tessa nods she says, “And we have heard so much about you.” She clasps Katie’s hand in both of hers.

Patch clears his throat. “Did you enjoy the show, Katie? Scott is doing great work here.”

“Yes! It was fantastic. I’m probably biased, but Tessa and Scott were my favourites.” She grins at Tessa.

“We’re a little biased too,” Marie winks. “I knew they were special from the first time I saw them skate. And then when I spoke to them I knew it wasn’t just the skating that made them special.”

As her friend rubs her back Tessa thinks that the first time they ever met may well have been in a corridor in a rink just like this.

Patch starts to tell Katie about watching them as juniors. She always listens so intently when people share stories about them growing up.

“Tess? Katie?” They all look around to see Scott and Laura coming towards them from the other end of the hallway.

Scott introduces Laura to Marie and Patch, and she tells them how much she’s enjoyed watching their teams ever since she became interested in ice dance.

“You have a lovely daughter,” Marie says, and Laura smiles. Tessa thinks she might be a little surprised, but that could be just her. She squeezes Marie’s arm in thanks. Marie had been so supportive and empathetic after Patch had told her everything, but she’d been so focused on what Tessa and Scott were feeling that it had seemed like maybe she was forgetting that Katie’s parents were her parents, and that wasn’t the role Tessa and Scott were going to have in her life now.

They chat for a little while before Laura reminds Katie that she has school in the morning. Marie and Patch head out, again inviting her and Scott to join them at the bar in their hotel for a drink tonight as they’re returning home tomorrow.

They walk Laura and Katie to their car and agree to meet up at the weekend. Tessa shivers a little as she waves goodbye and Scott holds her close to his side.

“I wasn’t expecting Katie to meet Marie and Patch here, I don’t know why,” he tells her as they make their way across the carpark.

“It was good. I think it’s better this way than if they had met at the wedding for the first time, what with all the emotions and everything.” Marie is definitely going to cry. Scott is definitely going to cry. Tessa is _definitely_ going to cry. She even thinks Patrice might cry.

Scott has this silly little smile on his face when she says ‘wedding’, and she’s glad to see it. She wouldn’t have blamed him if he’d been turned off the idea of a big day after their recent marathon planning sessions. An elopement had begun to look very tempting.

He leans over and kisses her. “Your face is so cold!” she complains.

“Exactly, I’m trying to warm it up.” He could achieve this by opening the Acura behind them but instead he leans her against the car, apparently determined to prove that kissing is a more efficient way to get warm than with the aid of an actual heating system. Tessa has to agree that it’s more enjoyable.

It’s a good thing no one else is around because they stay out there for longer than any two adults in their thirties with not only a car, but a home of their own to go to should. She can tell that Scott wants to head straight there from the look in his eyes, but they won’t see Marie and Patch in person until Nationals. He makes a show of sighing dramatically before opening the door for her and going to his own side of the car while she shakes her head at him.

She kisses him on the cheek before he starts the car. “You should be really proud of how tonight went.”

“Yeah?” Scott looks boyish again to her all of a sudden.

“Yes. It was lovely for all the kids’ families and friends to get to see them skate, and for them to get practice performing in front of a bigger crowd.” It might stand them in greater stead for further down the line than the lower levels of Nationals really, they probably won’t encounter much of a larger crowd there than at Sectionals or Challenge. “And they had a really great time. For most of it anyway.”

“Did you manage to convince the little ones that their lives weren’t over after a fall in a group number?”

“Just about, I may have had to use the help of chocolate. Crying after a show is rite of passage for a skater, best to get it out of their system early.” Tessa would prefer not to remember any of the times she’d found herself upset after a show right now.

“I think we skated pretty well, all things considered. I know it wasn’t as fluid as we might have wanted, but…”

“Katie loved it.” She says it like hers is the only opinion that matters, and maybe for tonight it is.

Scott grins. “Yeah, she did. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it really wasn’t all that impressive.”

“Me either. I said we had a lot of fun, and we did.” They always do when they skate together now.

He parks the car and kisses her again.

“We really do need to go inside, they must be waiting for us.” Her voice is weaker than she’d like it to be.

“I know, I just need to make up for all the time I didn’t spend with you when I was away at the Grand Prix Final.”

“Later,” she promises.

The hotel that Marie and Patch are staying in is new, and Tessa tries to take in all the details as they wander through the foyer into the bar. She wonders if it would be weird if she asked them if she could see their room for inspiration for the guest bedrooms. The fact that they’re not done yet is making her very grateful that their mentors didn’t take her up on the offer to just stay with them. That and the other quirks that Scott, his dad, and his brothers are trying to fix have made the house not quite ready for other people to stay in. Tessa is very aware now of how much preferable it is to have a shower with a consistent temperature.

She sees Marie waving at them and goes to join her while Scott goes to the bar to help Patch.

“Oh, Tessa.” Marie hugs her tightly before she sits down. “It was so wonderful to meet Katie. I knew how she resembled you two from the photos, but in person… it was so much more striking.”

“I think Alma and my mom are still getting used to that.” Sometimes she catches them just glancing from Katie to her and back again, or doing the same with Scott.

“You know, when people talk about how great their children are I tend to think they’re exaggerating.” She drops her voice, “Apart from when Patrice and I talk about Billie-Rose of course,” and smiles when Tessa laughs. “But Katie really is all you and Scott said she is. She is a beautiful young woman, inside and out.”

Tessa can’t believe it sometimes, that she had a small hand in making that happen, and that’s what Marie brings up next. “And Katie is that way because of her parents, yes, but also because of you and Scott. You know that, yes?”

Tessa nods. She can believe that now, that it’s not just Katie’s appearance that ties her to them, but also the way she works to make sure everyone is happy, and maybe that streak of perfectionism that Tessa wishes wasn’t shared among the women in her family. She might not know how many of Katie’s traits are due to her and Scott and their histories, and how many are Laura and Graham’s and theirs, but she doesn’t care. Katie is Katie, and that’s all that matters.

“Two Old Fashioneds,” Scott announces, placing them down in front of her and Marie with a flourish.

He sits down beside her, putting his arm around her, and apparently this is what it takes to send Marie over the emotional edge.

She starts sobbing, “I’m sorry! I’m just so happy that you… that we’re all here together like this.”

Patch produces a handkerchief (a real-life handkerchief!) from his pocket and gently wipes her tears, murmuring something soft and soothing.

Unusually, Scott doesn’t pick up on the real significance behind what she’s saying. “It’s just like old times! Like when the four of us were planning the comeback.”

Patch looks from where he’s resting his arm around Marie over to Scott and Tessa’s mirrored position and raises his eyebrows a little. He lifts up his glass. “No, I think now everything is much better.”

Tessa toasts to that.


	9. this residue (it's all I've got)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: I desperately want the scene where Tessa took her niece (nephew?) one Christmas and got them to calm down - idontneedtobeforgiven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from the Robyn song "Missing U"

**_December 2014_ **

Tessa doesn’t much care for Christmas anymore. Or maybe more specifically Christmas with her family at her mom’s house. She likes the weather, and the music, and the food, and the shopping, it’s really just the memories that bother her. A lot has changed since that Christmas in 2005 however, and not only the absence of the baby, but of her nana, and her dad, and this year even Kevin. He’s spending the holiday with his fiancée’s family, at least he’s coming back.

The big day is tomorrow and she’s been spending a lot of time holed up in her room. Ostensibly trying to finish off the Developmental Psychology paper she got an extension for, in actuality avoiding baby Ali. Tessa loves her niece, she does, she’s just not sure if she’s ready to spend a lot of time with her, especially not at this time of year (not that she’s been able to find a time of year that doesn’t remind her of the baby, or of being with Scott). She hasn’t even held her yet, and she’s already three months old. Being an aunt can just be another addition to all the things she’s failed at this year. Ali was born in September, around the same time Tessa had found out she was pregnant all those years earlier, and Alison sounded so similar to Alma, or at least at the start it had. She thinks it might even have been one of the variations she played around with that time she’d let herself dream about what could have happened if…

She tries to focus back on the journal article she’s reading about whether the Strange Situation is appropriate cross-culturally. An essay on attachment isn’t exactly the best break from thinking about babies, or any break at all. She had intended to have it finished at the same time as the rest of her classmates, but Holiday on Ice and then training in Montreal and Calgary had proved too much. Being with Scott doing all that and then trying to write about the bond between babies and their parents had proved too much.

She misses him.

Tessa makes it through two more articles before deciding she should make some effort to spend time with her family. It’s not until she takes out her earphones that she hears the crying. Ali sounds so unhappy that it makes Tessa want to join in with the tears.

When she goes downstairs and into the living room her mom is walking around with Ali more or less screaming in her arms. Casey and Maria are on the couch exhausted while Jordan looks like she’d prefer to be elsewhere.

“Was she making it hard to concentrate?” her sister asks.

“Oh no, I was listening to music, I didn’t hear a thing.” Ali’s face is so red. “Is she okay?”

Casey widens his eyes and then his face softens. “Apart from the crying, yeah. She’s just upset.”

“Why don’t I take her for a while?” Everyone turns to her.

“Are you… sure?” Maria wonders. “She’s not at her best right now.” Maria _knows_ , but they’ve never talked about it, and Tessa likes it better that way. She doesn’t want anyone’s awkward sympathy, no matter how real it is. There is someone she probably should discuss it all with, but she doesn’t know how to get to that place. The guidebooks on placing a child for adoption and then going on to have an Olympic-medal winning ice dance partnership are surprisingly lacking.

“It’s fine. I’ll just walk her around the house a little.” She thinks it might be easier to hold her now when she can focus on trying to help her, and not have to think about everything else.

Her mom hands the baby over. Tessa studiously avoids looking at her and instead focuses all her attention on Ali. She settles for a second when Tessa starts rubbing her back, but the wailing returns all too soon. She hasn’t held a baby since Jack Moir at the Canada Day barbecue, but she really can’t think about all that when holding her crying niece. Ali is so much smaller, but she has that same sweet baby smell. Tessa doesn’t know what it is.

“Let’s go for a little walk, okay, Ali?” Her voice has automatically gone to that baby register.

Tessa doesn’t look back when she leaves the room because she’s fairly sure both Jordan and her mom are getting upset. Part of her thinks it’s not really their place, it was she who went through it all. They were just bystanders.

She starts climbing the stairs back up to her room. “I hate not being able to tell people why I’m upset, this must really suck for you. I’m going to take you to a place where I’ve done a lot of my crying.”

Her room is messier than usual with papers all over the desk and bags of gifts for her mom and Jordan still to be wrapped on her bed, but the floor is clear so there’s enough space to walk Ali back and forth.

Tessa keeps talking to her, even if she has no clue whether it’s helping or not. “I’m sorry I haven’t spent as much time with you as I should. It’s a little hard for me.” The cries seem to have decreased in volume, but that could just be because she’s gotten used to them. “You see, the big Virtue family secret is that you’re not actually Nana Kate’s first grandchild.” Everywhere she’s been with her mom since people started finding out Maria and Casey were expecting those words have got under her skin like tiny shards of glass that are impossible to pick out.

“You have a cousin. She’s eight, going to be nine in a little less than two months. She has dark brown hair, and hazel eyes,” her throat starts choking up, “and I’m sorry that I can’t tell you any more about her. I wish I knew more too.” She turns her head so that she can kiss Ali. “I do know that she’s just as special, and as beautiful, and as loved as you are.”

The cries are more like whimpers now. Tessa isn’t sure she can do any more talking right now so she opens up her laptop and puts on one of the soothing Spotify playlists. This does not go down well. It had only taken her a few minutes to forget how loud the shrieks were.

“You’re okay, baby, you’re okay.” She keeps walking around, trying to remember what she had done with Jack that seemed to keep him happy. The nursery rhymes seem to quieten her, and by the time she’s started on her second run-through of them the cries have finally stopped, replaced by steady breathing.

Tessa catches a glance of herself in the mirror, and is surprised by just how proud her smile is. This feels like a win.

Casey and Maria look a little shell-shocked when she re-joins them. She sits down on the couch, transferring Ali from her shoulder down to the crook of her arm.

“I think I’m in love with you,” Maria whispers.

Tessa laughs. “She just exhausted herself, I didn’t really do anything.”

Casey shakes his head, “No, you totally deserve a bigger Christmas present now. Do you want me to put her down?”

“She’s just settled. I don’t want to disturb her.” She wants to look at her properly now.

“Sure. _Meet Me in St. Louis_ is on, you like that one, don’t you?”

Tessa nods, and Casey flicks through the channels until he lands on Judy Garland singing “The Trolley Song”.

She doesn’t end up really watching the film, spending more time taking in Ali instead. She can’t quite figure out who she resembles, the baby has her mama’s blonde hair but her facial features are harder to pinpoint. She’s her own little person. Her face is so peaceful now. Tessa thinks of how amazing it would be to have your life wide open for you to do whatever you wanted, to be whoever you wanted. And after staring at Ali for long enough she begins to wonder if maybe she can open up her own life, too.

“Would you mind taking her?” she asks Maria. “I, uh, I have something I need to do.”

She grabs her phone the minute she gets into her room and then finds herself re-treading the same path she took when trying to soothe Ali. She’s going to wear this carpet out. After taking a breath she sits herself down on the bed and starts to type.

It’s a generic Christmas message really, right up until the end when she adds “I can’t wait to skate with you again” which doesn’t really fit in with her ‘we should take a break from each other’ stance (a total failure, it turns out that time apart from your business partner wasn’t a strong financial decision… or an emotionally healthy one). It’s just a placeholder for what she really means, which is ‘I can’t wait to see you again’.

Tessa puts the phone down once she’s sent the text, and gets to work with wrapping the remaining gifts. When it buzzes about three minutes later she assumes the message is from someone else. Scott isn’t the most avid texter.

_Thanks, Tess. I hope you’re having a great holiday too! You deserve it. I can’t wait to skate together again either, are you free the 28th? We need to be ready for Japan, right? We could get time at Ilderton, and you could come see my mom after, she misses you._

She sinks back down on the bed. Usually she waits a while before replying, but not to this. She tells him yes, and that sounds wonderful. Just as she’s sending it her phone vibrates in her hand, and it’s Scott again.

_I miss you._

Sobs take over her entire body, loud and uncompromising, and she thinks this must be how Ali felt earlier. She replies “I miss you, too,” or, at least she hopes that’s what she writes, it’s hard to see with the tears. The tears continue to fall as she curls up on the available space on her bed, and then after a while she gets up, washes her face, and goes downstairs to her family.

It’s a good practice on the 28th, and spending time with Alma and the rest of the Moirs after is even better. She and Scott discuss an offer they have to perform in China at the end of July, and decide to say yes. And maybe that is how the rest of her life begins.


	10. Marina

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ask: In the normal AU does Marina ever meet meet Katie? 
> 
> I had never thought about this, and I didn’t think there would really be an opportunity for that but maybe if Calgary were to win the bid for the 2026 Games and then if Katie went to watch there? I have, however, thought quite a bit about T talking to Marina about Katie...

**_February 2022_ **

Marina isn’t exactly the person Tessa most wants to see while on her way to watch the ice dance practice, but she’s walking straight towards her so there’s no avoiding her now.

Talking to Marina is always something of an awkward enterprise for Tessa now, although it’s much easier than it was before. The whole mess of their last season at Canton bothers her less and less, even if how happy the last two years of their competitive career had been at Gadbois made the difficulty of that period even starker. They probably wouldn’t have had that time with Marie-France and Patrice, or that wonderful moment in PyeongChang, if they had won in Sochi (and she is sure that Marina would somehow make out that that had been her plan all along if given half a chance).

She wishes Scott were with her to act as a buffer, but he’s already in the arena. He had headed off this morning while she worked her way through some funding proposals, trying to devote some time to her real job while away.

The hallway is cold and she pulls her coat tight around her before greeting her former coach. “How are you, Marina?”

“Good, good.” Tessa gets wrapped into a hug. “It has been too long! When did I see you last? Two years ago? Worlds in Montréal? You were doing your MBA, yes?”

Marina’s memory has always been good. “Yes, I’m working in Toronto now.”

“It is good to be closer to your mother, I was so sad to hear that she was ill.” Her ability to find out information is even better.

“She’s doing so much better now.” Remission is now one of Tessa’s favourite words.

“And Scott is still at Gadbois with Marie-France and Patrice?”

“Yes, he’s working with some very promising junior teams. He’s wonderful with them.” He’s been Skyping them every day they’ve been out here.

“When I was talking to him earlier all he wanted to talk about was how wonderful you are at your job, and how important it is.” Marina smirks, and Tessa is embarrassed to find herself blushing. “He is very happy.”

“We both are.” She knows she’s all but confirming their relationship status to Marina, but it feels okay. The older woman has always been so very good at keeping their secrets.

“That makes me very glad.” The seriousness with which Marina says this surprises her, and maybe it’s this that causes Tessa to call her back after she squeezes her elbow and goes to leave.

“You- you knew the real reason I was away that season, didn’t you?” Her voice is hushed, but Marina seems to have no problem understanding.

“Yes.”

“How did you know?” It’s something she’s always wondered about.

Marina frowns. “Different things - there was never a clear story about your injury, Scott was so different when you were away, and of course you had been so close before you left. But it wasn’t until you came back that I knew for sure.” She shrugs her shoulders, and there’s a sadness to the action, “I recognised the look in your eyes.”

Tessa doesn’t know how the story Marina remembers ended, but she wants her to know that this one had a happy ending. “We’re in contact with her now. The baby, I mean.”

Marina’s face lights up, and the sincerity of it makes Tessa think of her watching them listen to Mahler for the first time in the car park at Arctic Edge. “Really?”

“Yes. She’s not a baby anymore, obviously. She’s turning sixteen in two days.” They’d left their gift for her with her mom before they’d flown out. Katie had messaged them last night to ask if they’d be free to call her that day, and that had been the highlight of the trip so far. “We first met her in September, and we’ve been in regular contact since then.”

“Oh, Tessa,” Marina is blinking away tears and this time it’s Tessa who’s reaching out to her.

“Would you like to see a photograph?” She knows that Katie and her mom wouldn’t mind.

“May I?”

Tessa unlocks her phone, noting the multiple messages from Scott, and finds one she’d taken of Katie all bundled up that day they went shopping before the holidays.

Marina takes a deep breath when she sees the picture. She places her finger on the screen. “She is the two of you, when you were young.”

Tessa feels a sob rising in her own throat. “She does look like us, yes.”

“Tess?” She turns around to find Scott, who starts walking faster when he sees she’s upset. “Are you okay?” He stares at her with so much softness before glaring at Marina.

“We’re fine, I was just…”

Marina hands the phone to Scott. “Tessa was showing me this.”

“Oh.” Tessa can see the surprise on his face, and that he has to fight his automatic urge to smile whenever he sees a photo of Katie.

“Thank you, Tessa. I’m very happy, for all of you.” As Marina goes Tessa thinks that she won’t dread having to talk to her the next time.

When their former coach is further down the hall she puts her arms around Scott. “I’m sorry I told her without talking about it with you.”

“Don’t be, she always knew anyway.” He kisses the top of her head. “Feels kind of right that she finds out the rest of it.” They stand like that for a little while as he rubs her back. She nods into his chest when he asks her if she’s sure she still wants to go watch the rest of practice. “You’re 100% sure you’re okay?”

“I’ve never been better,” she promises.


End file.
